FINAL BLOG!!!!

The things that I've improved on was actually analyzing my writing!  On my last paper, hopefully, I analyzed, not summarized!  And I've learned how to get right to the point on my papers and not blab on.  I've learned some strategies and here they are: going to you and sitting next to you because I feel more comfortable about things, like my writing, and actually making my own little outline to help me focus on what I'm going to write about.  My third paper was the easiest to write, because I've had two times of practicing and I now know what you actually want in a paper.  As much as I hated them, I think the Grammar Guides were the most helpful.  Because little reminders make things clearer for me.  I do feel more prepared to write college level papers, because I actually know and understand what an academic paper is and how they are needed to be written.

Class Discussion on Wednesday

I thought class discussion was not what it usually is.  We obviously didn't talk much, but I personally got a a better understanding on the poems that we were supposed to read.  I liked the different points that my classmates brought up because then I would take the poem into a different aspect.  But I thought the poem that Shakespeare wrote was very interesting, because he was describing on how looks really arn't everything.  Which is very true and I really enjoyed what he wrote.

"The Flea"

Well, to start out with, this poem talks about marriage.  Two people who have become united in marriage, and it basically describes their honeymoon night.  After that night, they have conceived a baby, making it three people in the family.  The parents didn't like the guy, or the guy parents didn't like the girl.  Then one of the couple killed the other and the baby.  So that's what the poem meant to me!

I really don't understand what the "flea" has to do with anything, but it does mention that it is passed from one to the other person.  So i'm interested in what other students put for the meaning of "flea"!

Poetry!

Well, I honestly loved doing poetry in middle school because I loved to rhyme my words and it had a little ring to it, well now I got to high school and figured it would be the same...nope, it changed.  It wasn't rhyming anymore, it was just an important person putting words together and for some reason, those words became famous and they were now published in a book. 

In high school, we didn't cover poetry that well because we were running out of time and it wasn't very liked by my classmates, so I know the basic structure, but not as much as I would hope to know.  I really like Dr. Seuss, because of the rhyming!! But for real people, I enjoy Emily Dickinson because her poems are deep and filled with meaning, which I really enjoy, a lot!

For the definition, I would say it's a clumping of words filled with meaning.

Topic for my Drama Paper!!!

So i'm doing my paper on Mephistophilis and here is my argument:  Why is Mephistophilis acting as a 'good' devil and not a bad one, and how is he tempting people?

So basically i'll explain how the devil played a role in the Bible, and then go to how Mephistophilis doesn't really follow in the Devils footprints by being "bad".

Class discussion

I thought Monday's discussion went pretty well.  I really focused on what people thought about Mephistophilis becuase he is a character that I think I am going to do my next paper on.  I could go many ways on this.  I'm going to talk about how "good" of a devil he really is.  And Mephistophilis has many ways of temping people, so I think Mephistophilis has something big up his sleeve.

Sticks out the most...

The thing that sticks out to me the most in Dr. Faustus is Mephistophilis.  He is the devil and basically people have described him as a good devil, well there is no such thing as a good devil.  So I'm thinking that the so called 'good' part is Mephistophilis is tempting people, and he is pretending to be good and making the people fall for whatever tricks that he is playing.  So like I said, he is tempting people, just like the devil did to Adam and Eve.  So I think the Bible will come to play in this play!

Contrasting Dr. Faustus's writing with mine

Faustus has this rating that consists of: magic, religion, law, medicine, and philosophy/scholarship.  And that is compared to mine of: religion, family/happiness, medicine, philosophy/knowledge.  I put religion first because I think that God is the most important person in my life.  I've been through a lot, and I have him to help guide me through things.  Also my family is there too, so that puts my two best things at the top of my list.  I actually am surprised that Faustus didn't include money in his list.  Because he seems very greedy and I think he is a little stuck up.  But his list compared to my list is about the same.  But comparing to today's world, it would be different because a lot of things have happened in our society that hasn't back then; obviously.  And with his writing that he had back then compared to ours now, it's different because we have all of this technology and the government seems to be more 'controlling' lets say, but there really wasn't much control back then as there is now.

Evaluating the past semester!

I thought this semester went by pretty well I think.  I loved that you put the novel first to just get it out of the way.  Also the hardest things first just to get them done with.  I personally liked doing the grammar guides each Friday because it just bored me out of my mind when we did grammar things last semester in 101, and we basically used up the entire 50 minutes going over them.  That was a killer for me.  But I like the 10 minute lessons.  I also thought the Gist's were good too, because you could really think about on what you wanted to right your next paper on, and then we would hand it in to you and get back responses on how well we did this and if it was good enough for a paper topic.  But I will admit, I am not a good analysis person, I like to summarize and I need to get away from that. :( 

But other than that, I have actually learned quite a bit from you, and I have really enjoyed it!

Setting and Point of View of "Beauty and The Beast"

Setting:  In "Beauty and The Beast", the setting first takes place at Beauty's wonderful place, called home.  The author describes it as a place where everyone would enjoy to stay.  Then things start to turn around.  The father has lost a lot of things, like his fortune, and now they have to leave their home.  They are now living in a small country house, not far away from town.  Beauty, however, told herself that if she kept on crying, it wouldn't make things better, so she stopped and sucked it up like a normal person would.  But her other 'lovely' sisters kept crying away like little babies.  And now it brings up to the Beast's castle.  This is where many things happen.  The Beast makes a deal with the father, Beauty comes to live with the beast, not liking him, then as the story goes, she seems to now have fallen in love with the Beast, and he changes into a human, and they live happily ever after.

Point of View:  Easy enough, just like every other story, but the narrator is the one that is telling us the story.  For example, if Beauty was the one that was basically telling us the story instead of getting the full effect of the Beast, then Beauty would not have fallen in love with the Beast.  Usually it is love at first sight with some people, but the Beast made her realize that he isn't a Beast after all, he is a caring person.

Comparing and Contrasting "The Birthmark" and "Bartleby"

1.   Plot:  In "The Birthmark", the author goes right to the point on what he wants to get across.  He talks about the acceptance of who each character is, and that is the same in "Bartleby". 
     Character:  In "Bartleby" the author gives a background of each character before announcing who the main character is.  The author makes us know each trait about each character, and they are all basically round and foil characters.  The big thing about the two stories is 'Acceptance'.  In both stories, they go through incidents where each character has to accept something about who they are or the friends that they have.

2.  Like I said in character, it's all about acceptance.  We need to learn how to accept the fact that God wanted us to be make the way we are, like; fat, skinny, different color of skin, placement of birthmarks, and whatever else you don't like or even do like. (well your parents are the one's that made you, but I think you know what I mean!)

Class discussion about racism

I think everyone of us are racist.  I say this because, if we walk around the store, and we see a person of different color, we think to our self, why are they here.  Or, like you said in class, if you walk down an alley way, and you see two black people or two white people, who are you going to be scared of the most.  But I personally try my hardest of not thinking about people of color when I see them.  But it was just how I grew up.  I was used to being surrounded by white people.  I went to a school that only had one black person in it and only 4 Hispanics, then I come to college, and I'm really not used to many African Americans walking around.  Yes there isn't many of them, but it's a step up from high school. 

I just went into the dentist to get my teeth cleaned, and I had an African American work on my teeth.  I was a little nervous at first, because whenever I would get them cleaned, I would always have white people work on them.  But honestly, she did a very nice job and was the friendliest dental hygienists that I've had.

So yes, there are some people that have different feelings about different color, but I for one am trying on not to pick out people of a different color than me, I am trying to look at them just like I would look at white people.  Just like the song in bible school, "Red or yellow, black or white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world" And that is what I want for this world, to treat each other equally.

Fake Twitter Accounts

I for one and not impressed about people making up fake twitter accounts.  I think it is very stupid that people do that.  I think it is stupid that people have to hide behind a fake alias to make one up.  They just need to grow up and say what they want to say and be done with it.  And then when they make a fake account about celebrities or just random people, I think that is very childish of them.  People are always looking for attention, and that is not the right way to get it.

First Paper!

I really liked all of the class discussions we had, because it helped me a lot with my paper topic and digging deep on why I thought I-330 was D-503's guardian.  Also, in the past for English 101, we would all get together and read each other's papers, and that took forever and a day to do, and it got really old and boring, but I like what we do now.  I got to pick out my specail topic that I wanted and people would give imput, which I enjoyed very much, and plus it took less time doing it.   Also, I liked meeting with you becuase then it showed me that I had to dig deeper and deeper on my topic, and I have trouble jumping around a lot in my paper, and then I go to you and you helped me out to get organized!  AND, I love love love the organizing paper you gave us to help us write our paper, that really helps me out a lot!!!


I really didn't have anything negative about this process, so it works good!

Attemping to write about the Metamorphosis!!

Well, first of all, this book confused the heck out of me.  I honestly thought Gregor was dreaming about being a bug, but turns out, he was not.  It was so odd!!!  Then I start writing my gist, and I wrote about how his family thought he was the breadwinner of the family, and then, Gregor turned into a beetle-like insect, and they basically disowned him.  So I thought that was very wrong of the family to do that.  It really upset me that the family did that to their own son.  But families are families and it's what they do.

Work Cited!

Stark, Rodney. "Heaven Accessible to many, Americans Say." 125.21 (2008): 20. Scholarly Jounal. Web. 21 October 2008.

Lapi, Lycchua. "The Maras and their Freedom in Christ." 7.2 (2008): 91-6. Scholarly Journal. Web. Fall 2008

Zamyatin, Yevgeny. WE. New York: Modern Library. 2006. Print

Topic on WE!!

I am going to argue that  I-330 is D-503's 'guardian angel'.  Although, many people think that it is the S-Shaped Man.  I-330 has always looked out for D-503 in this book, and I argue that she actually is!  So I hope you enjoy my paper when you read it!!  =)

One topic from the book!

Well, first off, this book was kind of confusing at times, but when we discussed things more in class, I understood everything much much better!

I guess I would like to talk about the schedule life.  At first it was so weird for me to understand how they had to do everything at the same time.  To me it would've been so hectic and frustrating because I like to be organized and I like to jump in when no one is around so I can do my own thing.  But then as the book kept going, I was getting used to the time schedule.  I myself sat down and starting writing things down that were due at a certain time.  So I learned a lot from this book about scheduling.  I set goals about time management and basically reached all of them, so I was very happy! But anyway, back to the book.  Towards the end, to me I think the schedule got off, because D-503 and I-330 were doing things way our of the ordinary, and they didn't quite follow the schedule.  So they were basically off in their own little world, canoodling with each other!

Overall this book was enjoyable, strange, and confusing to read, but I really liked our group discussions that we had on it.  I got a better grasp on the book!

State of the Union Address

President Obama started off talking about how we should have a better life for our children.  Which is true, because our children today do not live good lives. We need to teach our kids hard work and discipline.  They have now launched a new thing called 'Race to the Top' instead of 'No child left behind' because he thought it was most meaningful in our public generation. 

He then goes on talking about teachers, and how we need to teach the people to treat the teachers with the same level of respect as you would want.  "If you want to make the life a child better, become a teacher, your country needs you!"

China and India felt like they could challenge the U.S. and start teaching their children more to be more educated that us, but then President Obama said it was good, because he likes the challenge.  He introduced the "Idea" and that idea would be to start shaping each other more and take on challenges that will take decades to make.  He urges democrats and republicans to work together more.  President Obama also stated that, "The future is not a gift, it is an achievement".

We finally passed the health reform...FINALLY!! and he also stated that we should fix what we are fixing and lets move forward.  Now is the time to act, we should give our people a government that is more efficient.

And in his last words of the speech, he stated, "Because of our people, America is strong!"

I thought he gave a good speech, and hopefully with the things that he has said, it actually comes true.

Something I wouldn't like...

I think I would have to choose being on a schedule.  I really don't like to follow certain schedules and also being told to go to bed at a certain time or anything like that.  I like to do things in a certain way, and I think it would drive me nuts doing things everyday at the same time.  I like to change up my options!

Reader Response...

Well, let me first start off saying that Zamyatin is quite the author.  It's crazy how some people really work and think.  Yes it is pretty cool on how people come up with the things they think of, but still with our generation of teenagers, and even older adults, we wonder why they come up with these stories.  But I think that it was neat, even in the '20's when this book was written, that Zamyatin had a good grasp on where this book was heading.  I thought he gave really good descriptions on how all of the characters acted and felt towards each other.  This to me really helped me out because then I can notice what emotion and what the characters look like to match the description to them. 

Breaking apart WE

Style-  D-503 rearranges words in his own world.  The working is the same, but they really aren't the human structure that we imagine them to be.
Tone- D-503 has a very good tone with everybody.  He talks about the objects/people (whatever they are) in a way that isn't hurt full.  He makes I-330 sound like a goddess.  He talks with sympathy toward the others.  With the events that have happened, he doesn't make a big deal about it.
Irony- Even if they live somewhere other than Earth, they still have the same features of what we have here.  I think it's cool how authors have a huge range of mind when writing science fiction novels.
Plot- This is taken place at One State.  D-503 starts off talking about the introduction and some of the characters.  He doesn't really explain much about them, but he sometimes gives a description about them.
Characterization- Characterization is much like what I wrote about in the plot.  D-503 has made/talked about these people/machines like they have no similarities.  Which not all humans on earth do.  But each person in D-503's world has a distinct feature about themselves and that helps the reader better understand and remember the characters.
Setting- The book was written in the 1920's, and the author Zamytin wrote this book as though there is not one detail that doesn't illustrate given theory or discovery of his day.
Point of View- D-503 is the one that's tell us the story.
Symbol- D-503 talks about a guardian angel, and I think that I-330 is his guardian angel, because he talks about her being this perfect girl, and how she is so gentle with everything, kind of like a guardian angel.
Theme- I think D-503 is trying to get across to his readers of telling them that his life is mostly the same as our life today.  He talks about different schedules and we also have a lot of schedules that we use today.  So I think he is trying to let us believe that other worlds/places are just like ours somehow.

Intro to WE

Well, this book is quite tricky to follow along, but I am doing my best!

In WE, Yevgeny Zamyatin had a sound claim to the invention of sciencefiction dystopia.  In the novel, the character D-503 is the voice, and he speaks in equations.  He was unable to finish this novel, because he was wasted away in silence and poverty and he died on March 10, 1937.

In the introduction, he talked about 'dead-alive' and 'alive-alive'.  I thought it was very interesting on how he put that, because it is true on both parts, because the 'dead-alive' people are like machines, they make no mistakes, and they do only produce dead things.  While 'alive-alive' are constantly in error, and machines do not make errors. (most of the time!)

In the first couple Records, it gave a brief introduction of the setting and how things were going about.  D-503 seems like he is very profound of himself.  He stated, "I will just attempt to record what I see, what I think-or, more exactly, what we think".  Well, what I think, he put that very well.  The book is called WE for a reason, and I think he and his friends/people will get together and put their thoughts into something good.  Therefore, on his last statement, 'what WE think'.

I really liked how he talked about different dances.  First the non-free movement, on how you have a dance you have to learn, and also his non-freedom dancing, which you can move/dance to anything you want to.

This story is laying out the basics in the first couple records, and it's getting more complex throughout the rest of the records.  I think something more will happen with D-503 and I-330!  I'm pretty sure O-90 is out of the question for D-503.

Getting to know ME!!!

Hello,
My name is Kim Jacobsma, and some people call me Kimmi, but not Kimberly!!  I am an outgoing person who likes to get things done right away.  I live in Ocheyedan, Iowa on a nice farm and I am the youngest of 6 kids.  I like and play many sports and I went to State for the shot put in track.  I got 6th place, so I was very happy with that!  Otherwise, I have been enjoying USD very much and nothing too much to say about me.  I look foward to learning more!!!